The Final Ending
by Ikasu Gami
Summary: Miaka and Yui left the world of the Shijin Tenchi Sho in ruins and chaos... now it is the duty of the final miko to bring it all to an end. But does this child possess the strength of will to carry it through to the end?


**The Final Ending**  
Chapter One- Girl of Legends  
Written by Ikasu Gami  
naimitsu@otakumail.com

_Four mikos have come and gone from the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho, leaving a trail of heartache and chaos in their wake. They awakened their animal gods, each being granted three wishes. Genbu, the copulating serpent and turtle of the North, protector of Hokken; Byakko, the white tiger of the East, protector of Sairou; Seiryuu, the water dragon of the South, protector of Kutou; and Suzaku, the phoenix of the South, protector of Konan. Upon awakening and granting of the three wishes, the mikos were consumed by their animal god, and if they had the strength of mind to resist being completely consumed, they were returned to their world outside of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho. _

_Three are now dead, with the last not too far from death's door. One had died young, by the hand of her father. Another of old age. And the third by a broken heart, leaving behind a young child. Now, two generations have passed in the world of the mikos since Suzaku no Miko and Seiryuu no Miko have left the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho for the last time, the fate of the world of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho lies in the hands of a young girl. She is of the blood of two mikos, and the will of another two, she will follow in her predecessors' footsteps to right all of the wrongs committed while they inhabited the world of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho. _

But the world of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho is not the only world that will be affected by what this miko shall do. Her world, and every other plane of existence lie in the balance...

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A young girl sat in a tree humming softly to herself as she watched the sun set in the distant horizon. She had a small smile on her lips and a serene expression on her face, as if she did not have a worry in the world. She seemed happy and content with all of existence. Then her face darkened as the sun finally dipped beyond the horizon, disappearing from view. Her smile faded and she seemed to slump into herself with a tired sigh. She glanced at her watch before she began climbing down from her high perch, being careful about not getting the skirt of her school uniform snagged on anything.

She was almost all the way down when she was startled by someone calling out her name. Falling the rest of the way down, she frowned at the boy who had caused her to fall as she stood up, rubbing the now sore spot on her butt. "Kichigai, that wasn't nice." He only grinned in response, causing her to glower at him. "You know, if I had been any higher, I could've really been hurt."

His smile slipped off his face as he nodded somberly. "Yes, that is true." Then he winked at her. "But that's why I waited until you were close enough to the ground before I scared you."

She continued to glower at him for another moment or two before succumbing to the smile that she could feel surfacing. "If you weren't my cousin Kichigai..."

He grinned again as they headed towards the front door of the estate that was their grandfather's home. "Yeah yeah Aria, I know. You would never forgive me and make my life a living hell!" He threw his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. "But you love me and could never hate me for very long." They had huge smiles on their faces when they walked into the warm, well-lit foyer.

"How are my two little trouble makers doing?"

Both of their faces lit up when they heard their grandfather's voice. In unison, they said, "Ojii-Yuuki!" as they rushed to him, giving him a big hug at the same time. When they stepped back, their grandfather plucked a twig from her silver hair.

Raising an eyebrow. Keisuke said, "I swear Aria, you spend more time in that tree than in this house." She blushed, but laughed along with the two guys. As they made their way to the formal dining room, their conversation and mood remained light. However, as soon as they walked through the doorway, the atmosphere changed dramatically. There was so much tension in the air that the three of them went silent. Keisuke went to the head of the table while Aria and Kichigai took their places next to their parents. She had never liked these monthly family inners. 

Her mother and her Aunt Misumi always got into an argument about something or other. Her older cousin Sako always had to brag about something she had just done, bought, or gotten. Cousin Taro always treated her like a kid, even though they were only three years apart. 

Kichigai's older sister Kitsune always brought a new boyfriend and the baby talk they engage in always made Aria lose her appetite. But most of, she didn't like these dinners because both her father and her older sister Akami always had to correct her in front of everyone, making such a big deal about it, as if she could never do anything right. She knew that they loved her and that they wanted to make a good impression on not only Ojii-Yuuki, but also the other relatives. With a sigh, she slumped into her chair with an unhappy frown as the misery began.

"Michiko dear, do you always let Aria out of the house looking like *that*?" Misumi flicked her eyes from Aria's mother to Aria, then back.

She didn't catch her mother's reply because Akami pinched her thigh. "Ow! What was _that_ for Akami?!"

Akami tightened her lips at Aria's tone of voice, saying in a fierce whisper, "Sit up! You look like such a slob when you slouch down like that. It makes Mom and Dad look bad."

Dejectedly, Aria sat up and tried to straighten herself as the first course of the meal was placed in front of her. Aria ate in silence, only glancing up from time to time to catch Kichigai's tortured expression. Despite their family, she wondered how they both turned out pretty normal. Then she would glance over at their grandfather and smile. It was strange, he never seemed to be affected by whatever was going on at the dinner table. He always had that calm, serene expression on his face. And whenever he would catch her glancing at him, he would wink at her, as if they shared a secret that only the two of them knew about.

The two-hour dinner seemed to drag on for days to Aria, and at the first opportunity, she excused herself. However, she wasn't able to escape the madness without catching a bit of it as Akami grabbed her wrist, saying, "Don't go snooping around Aria. It makes you look like a thief."

Tears began to well in her eyes as she fled from the dining room. Without really thinking about it, she went to the one room where she always felt at home in. The Library. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and curled up on her favorite chair. Hot tears fell from her eyes as her own sister's words rang in her head. Slowly, she regained control over her emotions, and pretty soon, she was staring at the fire in the fireplace dry eyed. _::Why does Akami always have to say things like that to me?::_ Then something caught her attention. It was a little high up on the bookshelf, where she couldn't reach, but everyone else could. 

Getting up from her seat, she walked over to the bookshelf and used one of the lower shelves as a step so she could reach the book that had caught her attention. As she was reaching for it, the door opened and she turned slightly to get a look at who it was. Her eyes widened in terror as she felt herself begin to fall backwards. She lost grip of the book she had been trying to get, but instead of hitting the floor, she felt a pair of strong arms catch her. Looking up, she was looking into the face of a perfect stranger. Frowning, she said, "Who are you?"

He gave her a strange look, saying, "Aria, did you hit your head on something?"

Then the face of the stranger was gone, replaced by Kichigai's familiar face. Shaking

her head, she pushed away from him. "Never mind." She turned to walk back to the chair but noticed the book she had been going for on the floor. Walking over to it instead, she picked it up and turned it in her hands. "Hey Kichigai, have you ever seen this book before?" Looking up at him, she saw the stranger again, but this time it was only a flash and Kichigai looked like his normal self again.

Kichigai, not noticing anything strange about himself or Aria, took the book and started to flip through it. He frowned as he flipped to the first page. "My kanji isn't as good as yours." He handed it back to her. "You read it."

Aria nodded and looked down at the page. However, before she could read any of it out loud, someone walked into the library, startling the both of them. "What are you doing?!" Both of them stared in shock at their grandfather. This was the first time he had ever appeared less than calm in front of them. "What book do you have there Aria?" Shaking his head, he went to her and took the book from her. "Don't ever read this book." He took it to a wall safe hidden behind a painting and put it in there. Pausing a moment to collect his thoughts, he said, "Go get Ojii-Kajiwara and Obaa-Kajiwara." He closed his eyes as he heard their footsteps fade away. 

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Yui hesitated at the threshold of the library, a sense of pure dred filling her entire being. She knew that something bad must've happened to have sent her two grandchildren racing to find her and Tetsuya, but something inside of her told her that it was much worse than she could have imagined. Sensing the uneasiness in his wife, Tetsuya looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Shaking herself out of the slump she had found herself in, she smiled almost weakly at him. "Yes, I'm fine." She shrugged it off. "Let's see what Keisuke wants." When they entered the libaray, she was overwhelmed with that sense of dread again. After a few moments, she pinpointed where the sense of dread was coming from. There, on Keisuke's lap, lay the book that changed all of their lives. Tearing her eyes away from the book, she met Keisuke's eyes. "No...."

Keisuke stood up with the book in his hand, nodding. "Yes Yui, it's begun again." With those words still ringing in her head, Yui fainted.

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Aria stared glumly out of the car window as the turned out of the driveway. The weather had progressively gotten worse as the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon. For some reason, her mind kept wandering back to the book she had found in her grandfather's library. She had been unable to read what was on that first page, but one line did pop out at her. It simply read "Zeiru no Miko". It was unfamiliar to her, and yet it caused shivers of recognition to run down her spine. Who was this Zeiru no Miko? Why did she get the feeling that she knew this girl?

Lightening flashed, and in the brief moment that the light illuminated the interrior of the car, she saw the face of a grey wolf staring back at her from the window. She jumped back, coming out of the trance she was in. A frown came on her face when she realized that the weather outside, the lightening, and the face of the wolf had been some sort of dream because the sun was *just* beginning to set and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.

Sighing, she turned back to her window to watch the western horizon. At least until they entered the city. The skyward reaching buildings and multi-leveled expressways did not encourage an unobstructed view of the horizon. So she sat, staring blankly out of the window, not really seeing anything. The image of the face she had seen in the library flashed in her mind again. There was something about him that comforted her, as if she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would do everything in his power to keep her safe. Kindness and worry had shone in his expressive blue eyes, and she could have sworn that something had flashed red on his forehead behind he dark blue bangs.

She blinked and was startled to realize that they were home already. Stepping out of the car, she followed her sister and her parents towards the entrance of the complex where they had a top floor condo. Her head was lowered in thought, but it snapped up quickly when she saw the flash of movement from the shadows just beyond the light. She stood perfectly still as the sound of growling of some animal came to her ears. She was frozen with fear as she noticed the glowing eyes that watched her.

Letting out a small cry of distress, she turned and fled into the complex, finding safety in the well lit entry way. She looked around, but found her family nowhere in site. Then she noticed one of the elevators going up. Not surprised by the fact that they had not waited for her, she went to bank of elevators and pressed the up button. When one arrived with an almost inaudible sigh, she stepped in and slipped her key card into the slot on the wall next to the door where the floor selection normally buttons were.

She waited patiently as the elevator began to rise, but half way to her destination, all power was lost in the elevator, dropping a couple feet. She had merely blinked in surprise when the lights went out, but a strangled yelp issued from her lips when she felt the drop, sending her to the floor. She sat on the floor, one hand still in a death grip of the rail, while the other clutched her uniform over her heart. Then the lights began to flicker, illuminating the small carrier in brief, sporatic spurts. 

Taking a deep breath, she held it when she realized that she wasn't alone. She looked around, but saw no one there. Getting to her feet slowly, she spoke to the shadows in a soft, quivering voice. "Hello? Who's there?" She saw the book she had found in her grandfather's library floating in front of her, glowing a soft hue of silver as it's pages turning on its own accord.

Then light returned to the elevator. She stared at herself in the reflective surface of the elevator in complete shock and confusion. She was standing exactly as she had been before the power failur in the elevator. She wondered if she was losing her mind.

Before she could dwell on it, the doors slid open. When her sister saw that it was her, a malicious smile curved her red stained lips. "You are in _so_ much trouble with mom and dad."

Aria's mouth fell open in shock. "What? Why?" She stepped out of the elevator, her eyes never leaving her sister.

Akami smirked and shrugged as she stepped into the elevator, taking care to not get one of her heels stuck in the gap between the elevator floor and the corridor. "You'll have to find out yourself."

Aria was left staring as the elevator doors slid shut. Shaking her head, she headed towards their condo with a slight frown. Before she could swipe open the door, it was yanked almost off its hinges by her father. His face was red and she could see the barely tethered rage in his blue eyes. "Do you have any idea what _time_ it is?!"

She recoiled from him and flinched when he grabbed her by the arm and yanked her inside. Slamming the door, he pushed her towards the living room. 

Stumbling across the carpet, she dropped her school bag at the entrance. When her mother saw her, a relieved sigh escaped the older woman's lips as she rushed to Aria. "My precious Aria!" She engulfed Aria in a hug. "Are you alright?" She stepped back to look down at her daughter, who nodded numbly. Then, without a thought, she let her hand fly.

Aria's head snapped to the side at the sheer force of her mother's slap. She could feel her cheek growing hot from it. With a hand covering her rapidly redening cheek, she turned back to look at her mother. There were tears standing in the older woman's eyes as she spoke in a quiet, angry voice. "Do you realize what time it is? We were so worried about you!"

She started to argue, but the floor drop from under her when she glanced at the wall clock. If the time was correct, she had lost nearly three hours in time. All color faded from Aria's face as she sat down heavily on the couch that was thankfully there. Gooshflesh raised on her arms as the thought of it. Maybe she had hit her head when the elevator fell, but if she had really been trapped in there for almost three hours, surely someone would have been sent to fix it.

Slippered feet came into her line of vision, and looking up, she stared blankly at her father. "You are grounded until the end of this school year. You are not to go anywhere but to school, to your grandfather's, and to your room." He glowered down at her, feeling a slight pang of anger when she averted her eyes. "Do you understand me young lady?"

Aria nodded mutely. She knew that when her father was this angry, no amount of words would help. Dejectedly, she stood up and retrieved her school bag before making her way to her room. Once in her room, she flung herself onto the bed, dry eyed because she was sadened beyond tears. _::Why do they always pick on me? Why don't they ever treat Akami like this?:: _

She didn't know how long she lay there, staring at the clock without really seeing it, but when she blinked, it was no longer night. In fact, she was no longer in her room or laying down. Instead, she was in her grandfather's library. She looked around, perplexed. Then, she turned to the floor to ceiling bookshelves, going directly to the book she had found there earlier. To took more care this time, getting the book without an incident. With her feet once more planted firmly on the floor, she walked over to her favorite chair and sat down, opening the ancient tome carefully.

With it open now, she slowly began to read the words written. She was half-way through the first page, she paused as she read something very peculiar. Re-reading it, she frowned slightly. Then she read it out loud. "As Zeiru no Miko experiences the loss of time, so thus the beginning of the end has come to pass. With a wrinkle in time, she was returned to the time when she first found the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho. And now, the destiny has been fulfilled. The long awaited _Girl of Legends_ enters the world of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho..."

A silvery light eminated from the pages of the book. She gasped at the beauty of it, then looked up when she heard the door open. She was only allowed a split moment to glimpse Kichigai, her beloved cousin, before disappearing from the world she had known her entire life...

Tsuzuku

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****N O T E****  
For those of you who check up on this fanfic ((and I know it's very few of you!!! T.T))... I've lost all of Chapter 2 ((due to me accidently not backing it up before reloading everything on my computer!!!)).  
I promise that Chapter 2 will be out within in the next month or two!!!!!


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